A great white shark that had been inadvertently caught in a fishing net off southwestern Japan last week died in an aquarium barely three days afterwards.
The Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium said in a statement that it had begun displaying the 3.5-meter/11.5-foot shark in a tank on January 5th, but its health deteriorated and by the 8th the predator was dead.
The Associated Press reported that the shark had rebuffed any efforts to feed it since its accidental capture.
Great whites are ridiculously difficult to keep alive in aquariums as they need to keep swimming to be able to breathe.
Jason Baker, the vice president of international campaigns for the Asian branch of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, told AP:
“The cause of death is clear: captivity. The shark never had to die like this.”
